Broadcom Speeds 802.11gBroadcom Speeds 802.11g

Broadcom ships 'Afterburner' technology that enables 54g wireless LAN products to deliver the industry's best real-world WiFi performance

March 24, 2004

4 Min Read

IRVINE, Calif. -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced it is shipping technology that enables 54g™ wireless LAN products to deliver the industry's best real-world performance. Afterburner technology is an enhancement for the 54g™ platform, Broadcom's maximum performance implementation of the IEEE 802.11g standard. Products with this new technology provide up to 40 percent greater throughput than typical standard 802.11g systems without impacting the performance of neighboring wireless LANs.

New products from several leading wireless LAN vendors will feature this new "standards-plus" technology that enhances the existing 802.11g standard without causing interference to other wireless devices. Linksys® has incorporated the technology into its new family of SpeedBooster™ products, while Belkin, Buffalo and others will promote the technology as "125 High Speed Mode". These products will enable residential customers to use wireless networks for bandwidth-intensive applications, such as sharing digital photos and transferring audio and video files between devices throughout the home.

"Wi-Fi's tremendous growth has been enabled by standards and interoperability," said Jeff Abramowitz, Senior Director of Marketing for Broadcom's Home and Wireless Business Unit. "As the wireless LAN market matures and segments, Broadcom is providing standards-friendly technologies resulting in differentiated products for consumers that demand higher speed wireless solutions. Vendors that offer Afterburner technology can now provide the best throughput in real-world environments, while remaining backwards compatible to other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products."

Best Real World Performance

Wireless LAN solutions enhanced with Afterburner technology can achieve optimal speeds when all network devices include the new technology. However, since real-world wireless networks may include a mix of brands, Broadcom has engineered the technology to remain compatible with all 802.11b/g Wi-Fi® devices, while providing a significant aggregate performance enhancement for all Wi-Fi devices on the network. Because Afterburner technology employs standards-friendly techniques to increase the efficiency of wireless transmissions, adding enhanced products actually benefits the entire Wi-Fi ecosystem.

"With optimized speed, industry-leading parental control services, and the industry’s first Wi-Fi certified enhanced G platform, Linksys® continues to add valuable features that provide customers with the industry-leading combination of performance, security, and compatibility," said Steve Troyer, Director of Product Marketing for Linksys®. "Broadcom's Afterburner technology enables our SpeedBooster™ products to deliver the industry-leading performance in real-world environments, while complying with industry standards for interoperability with other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products."

Tests performed by KeyLabs™ have shown that products with Afterburner technology provide industry-leading performance in a real-world environment of any solution available in the market. In addition to increasing the throughput of devices in high-speed mode, Broadcom's technology improves the overall performance of networks that include products that are not based upon Broadcom silicon.

"125 High Speed Mode enabled by Broadcom complements Buffalo's new AirStation One-Touch Security System™ because together, users benefit from instant network connectivity, advanced security features and high-speed Wi-Fi technology," said Morikazu Sano, Vice President of Buffalo Technology's Networking Division. "We are excited to introduce a standards-plus solution that is compatible, secure and simple to use."

Additional Throughput without Causing Interference

Afterburner technology is a "good neighbor" enhancement that boosts wireless throughput without the interference effects of current alternative technologies that promise 108 Mbps performance. Derived from standards-based frame bursting techniques, Broadcom's high-speed technology improves network efficiency while remaining compliant with the 802.11g channel requirements limiting transmissions to a single wireless channel. By contrast, "108" products violate the standard's channel requirements and occupy all usable channels in the 2.4 GHz band, thus causing significant interference to neighboring Wi-Fi networks and other wireless devices in the band, such as cordless phones. Third-party tests conducted by The Tolly Group™ have confirmed that "108" is "“bad neighbor" technology, creating severe interference to neighboring Wi-Fi devices.

"After testing 802.11g products offered from several different vendors and based on all the market-leading chipsets, we have conclusively found that "108" technology causes severe interference that degrades the performance of other Wi-Fi wireless equipment," said Kevin Tolly, President & CEO of The Tolly Group. "It is clear that products employing 108's channel bonding techniques are significantly detrimental to Wi-Fi systems even at distances of up to 150 feet. By contrast, products that adhere to the channelization scheme required by the 802.11g standard do not exhibit these characteristics."

Products with Broadcom's high-speed solution adhere to IEEE frequency channel rules and scale for use in offices and homes that use more than one access point. Competing channel bonding solutions suffer performance degradation for each additional new access point. Unlike competing standards-plus solutions, Broadcom's Afterburner technology is expected to ship in a wide variety of Wi-Fi enabled platforms, including routers, access points, client cards, notebook PCs and broadband modems.

Broadcom Corp.

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